Yet Another Midafternoon Budget Update.

The House has voted 115-82 to approve changes to the state's school code that would place school superintendents' contracts under the auspices of Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law. It would also implement new evaluation standards for public school teachers.

Under the terms of the bill, a variety of student performance measures would comprise 50 percent of an educator's overall rating. Several lawmakers bristled at the fact that the bill does not include teachers at charter and cyber-charter schools.

“I’m concerned that these schools are being left out,” said Rep. Pam DeLissio, D-Montgomery. “Why are our students who attend these schools any less deserving of high-quality teachers?”

Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia, echoed the concerns of many Democrats, who have criticized the Corbett administration for cutting $1 billion from kindergarten through twelfth-grade education. The schools are level-funded in this year’s budget.

But the spending plan does include $50 million for financially distressed school districts. Allentown is set to receive a combined total of $5.6 million in distressed school aid and accountability block grants, said Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh.

The House also narrowly voted 102-91 to approve language overhauling the way the state pays for county-run human services program. Compromise language offered by Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairwoman Patricia Vance, R-Cumberland, would allow 20 counties to enroll in a pilot program sending them the money in the form of a block grant.

Though the seven accounts being rolled into the new block grant are set for a 10 percent cut in funding, the Corbett administration has argued that the approach will give county leaders greater flexibility to spend the money. Service-providers say the approach will result in different groups competing against each other for shrinking state dollars.

On Friday, state senators announced a one-month extension to the end of the state's cash general-assistance program. The program, originally set to end July 1, provides $200 monthly cash payments to about 70,000 Pennsylvanians.

The bill “doesn’t do what its name implies, which is protect the welfare of citizens,” House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, said.